Saturday = College Football

For me, Saturday = College Football.   Thats just how it has always been, ever since I was a kid. My father didn't come to my homecoming after Iraq because Florida had a home game that day, and he had season tickets. I understood, and would have made the same decision. Thats how it is in our family, and throughout the SEC. For me, today revolves around Florida vs LSU at 4:30 (Pacific)   Currently I find myself engrossed in a very good Michigan vs MSU game, and cheering for a Big 10 Spartan team that my girlfriend likes almost as much as I like Florida. I'll also be checking in on Army vs. Tulane. My alma mater was terrible while I was at the Academy, but the last few years Army has managed to win a few, and once again I find myself singing On Brave Old Army Team!   Many people have let their foul opinions of the BCS ranking system known throughout the Internet, but I kind of like it. I'm not going to say that it is without its flaws, but I enjoy watching the games, and cheering for or against teams that I have no interest in, but only because a strategic win or loss will move up my beloved Gators, or drop down those damn dirty Seminoles - and I will always cheer for an SEC team no matter who they're playing. Have to make sure our conference stays strong.   Saturday is game day. Always has been, always will be. If you're not watching football right now, then you're wrong...

 

Entrepreneur Magazine event

So this past Tuesday I attended an Entrepreneur magazine seminar event in Long Beach. Those of you who are the least bit interested in business and are not familiar with Entrepreneur magazine, (http://www.entrepreneur.com/) then you really should check it out. Lots of good stuff in there, and pretty inspiring too, for those of us who want to make it on our own.

Anyway, the event Tuesday was a winning business strategies seminar event, and although I don't have too much experience with these types of seminars, this one certainly set the bar high. First of all, it was free – which due to my cynical nature, I automatically assumed ulterior motives. There were none. No “gotchas” at the door, no “free with subscription” fine print or anything like, straight up free. It was sponsored by Verizon, so of course they had a booth there and their CEO for southern California spoke in between the key note speakers, but the whole event was pretty swanky with nothing out of pocket, and I was impressed.

The event brought out all manner of So-Cal business owners. Naturally, most folks were entrepreneurs or they worked for small startups, and it was a good group for exchanging ideas and networking. Much to my surprise, it was catered, and catered very well. The keynote speakers were during meals that easily would have run $30 a plate at a restaurant. Dr. Ivan Misner spoke during breakfast on professional networking – one of the best concepts that I got out of that was the concept that networking is farming, not hunting.

This was followed by several seminar sessions where the attendees could attend lectures on various topics depending on what they wanted to get out of the event. The two that I chose were a session on developing your personal brand, and a session on social media marketing. Both of these contributed greatly to my ultimate decision to start this blog and really move into the digital world beyond simply having a facebook page. Who knows, maybe Twitter will be next!

The lunchtime keynote speaker was Bruce Kimbrell from the Disney Institute, speaking about people management. This may have been new to some folks in the room, but I have known Disney takes care of their people for a while, and get paid back in kind with outstanding performance. Though it was nice to hear details about how they go about the vetting and training process.

My final seminar session was about raising money for a startup, and although it provided great information, I'm not anywhere near the level to begin raising capital, and much of what was said didn't really apply to me... it's good to know what I can look forward to though.

The event ended with an open bar for their networking mixer, and I was very impressed overall with the way the entire event was handled. Exchanged quite a bit of ideas and information at the mixer, and got a good overall impression of the people there. If I ever hear of another event in the area, I would definitely go again.

A little about me

So, with my first post out of the way – something of a brief and rather vague synopsis of who I am and what I stand for – I figured I should go into a bit more detail of my background, and some reasons why you should care what I have to say (other than just simply being entertaining).

As I have said before, I am 27 years old and have spent more or less my entire adult life in service to our nation. I was an Army paratrooper and served 15 months in central Baghdad during the surge, as well as duty in Central and South America, but that is simply a caveat. A bit of a background to let you know why I have some of the opinions that I do. I have known too many people who's uniformed service has defined everything in their life, and I will not allow it to be the final chapter in mine.

I have completed two semesters of my MBA and should be finishing up within the next year or two. Sounds like I have it together, right? But one of the main reasons for going to graduate school out of the Army is to actually figure out what it is I want to do with myself.

I have made enough mistakes in my life to know that anyone who claims to have no regrets simply hasn't taken enough risks.

I invest what little capital I can scrounge up, and watch the market like a hawk, with my own semi-informed opinions on everything. It's like playing blackjack or craps, though without nearly the instant gratification – only the occasional gambler's remorse.

My current adventure finds me far away from my home, Pensacola, Florida, and in completely foreign surroundings... Newport Beach, California. I have yet to find steady work (though being freelance EVERYTHING has its perks) and have a brief hiatus before classes start back up. I am here with a deep south set of ideals and values trying to figure out which way is up since landing on the “left coast.” Basically I am experiencing an average, every day life in America almost as if I were an outsider looking in.

Intro

My name is Marshall, and this is who I am. I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog for some time now, but I have always ended up second guessing myself. Who would want to read about me? I am not expert enough in pretty much anything to really write about it, and I feel that I don't do anything more extraordinary with my life than anyone else. Those who have encouraged me in this endeavor happen to disagree with me on these points, and I am starting to realize that yes, I do have something to say. I am 27 years old, and a veteran of Iraq. I am now a civilian and a graduate student pursuing my MBA. I am an adventurer, and have traveled the world. I am an investor, a shooter, a drinker, a cigar smoker, and a gambler. I am a reader and a writer. I am an athlete and a fan. I am a connoisseur and a gentleman. I have done and experienced far more out of life than most my age, and I am ready to pursue more. With any luck, I'll be writing about that here, and I hope that you will be along for the ride.